Articles

Glossary of Diversity Terms: This glossary is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every word and term used in our conversations about diversity and social justice. Because of the way language works especially around these concepts, many of these words and terms will continue to evolve. Even so it can be useful to have a reference that provides basic working definitions that help spur discussions.

Closing Achievement Gaps: Revisiting Benjamin S. Bloom's "Learning for Mastery"pdf: This manuscript revisits the work of renowned educator Benjamin S. Bloom, who saw reducing gaps in the achievement of various groups of students as a simple problem of reducing variation in student learning outcomes. Bloom believed that all students could be helped to reach a high criterion of learning if both the instructional methods and time were varied to better match students’ individual learning needs. Bloom labeled the strategy to accomplish this instructional variation and differentiation mastery learning. Research evidence shows that the positive effects of mastery learning are not limited to cognitive or achievement outcomes. The process also yields improvements in students’ confidence in learning situations, school attendance rates, involvement in class sessions, attitudes toward learning, and a variety of other affective measures.

Reducing the Effects of Stereotype Threat on African American College Students by Shaping Theories of Intelligence: Past research suggests that negative stereotypes impugning Black students’ intellectual abilities play a role in this underperformance. Awareness of these stereotypes can psychologically threaten African Americans, a phenomenon known as “stereotype threat” (Steele & Aronson, 1995), which can in turn provoke responses that impair both academic performance and psychological engagement with academics. An experiment was performed to test a method of helping students resist these responses to stereotype threat. Specifically, students in the experimental condition of the experiment were encouraged to see intelligence—the object of the stereotype—as a malleable rather than fixed capacity. The African American students (and, to some degree, the White students) encouraged to view intelligence as malleable reported greater enjoyment of the academic process, greater academic engagement, and obtained higher grade point averages than their counterparts in two control groups.

The Mentor's Dilemma: Providing Critical Feedback Across the Racial Divide: Two studies examined the response Black and White students to critical feedback presented either alone or buffered with additional information to ameliorate its negative effects. Lack students who received unbuffered critical feedback responded less favorably than White students both in ratings of the evaluators bias and in measures of task motivation. By contrast when the feedback was accompanied both by an innovation of high standards and by an assurance of the student’s capacity to reach those standards. Black students responded as positively as White students and both groups reported enhanced identification with relevant skills and careers. This “wise” two faceted intervention proved more effective than buffering criticism either with performance praise or with an invocation of high standards along. The role of stigma in mediating responses to critical feedback, and the implications of the results for mentoring other teacher-student interactions, are explored.

LGBTQ Books With A POC Protagonist, Because It's TIme to Diversify Your Reading List: No matter who you are — black, white, gay, straight, male, female — reading provides you with an opportunity to see inside someone else's life. Books are the perfect tool to help you navigate through the diverse experiences of other people, and they have the ability to help you better understand and empathize with someone outside of your own circumstances.

21 Racial Microaggressions You Hear On A Daily Basis: The term “microaggression” was used by Columbia professor Derald Sue to refer to “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.”

Microaggressions: Be Careful What You Say: Psychology professor Derald Sue says some casual, everyday questions and comments can reveal people's unconscious biases, such as "Where are you really from?" and "You don't dress like a gay person."